This page is part of the Cricket WikiProject's online Nets, and contains instructions, recommendations, or suggestions for editors working on cricket articles. While it is not one of the project's formal guidelines, editors are encouraged to consider the advice presented here in the course of their editing work. |
There are several ways to report copyright issues on Wikipedia. Text and other media are handled differently, and the approaches to each may vary by the nature of the problem.
Copyright concerns exist where text or media are placed on Wikipedia from previously published sources that are not verifiably free for use and the material is not handled according to non-free content guidelines (WP:NFC). Even if the previously published source does not carry a copyright notice, it is presumed to be copyrighted unless we have a reason to know that it is free, i.e. if public domain for age or other reason. If a source is licensed compatibly for use but that license is not adhered to — for instance, if attribution is required but not given — this is also a copyright concern, even if the source is another Wikipedia article (see Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia).
Non-free content that is not used appropriately under WP:NFC represents a copyright concern. For example, even if quoted and attributed, extensive use of quotations from copyrighted sources is prohibited. A non-free image is a copyright concern if used outside of article namespace or if it otherwise violates the guidelines for such use.
While copyright concerns are more obvious when duplication is exact, they may also exist when the original source has been insufficiently altered. An image that incorporates or draws on a previously published image may be a derivative work. Text that paraphrases too closely on a non-free source may also infringe. (See Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing)
The handling of text-based copyright concerns depends on how extensive the problem is and the history of the article in which it appears.
If you are sure that content is copied or too closely paraphrases a non-free source, handling depends on whether the problem is with the entire article or only part of it.
In either case, as an alternative to tagging the article for administrator/copyright clerk investigation, you can simply replace the problematic content with material rewritten from scratch. Given the backlog of copyright work, this is often the best way to handle copyright issues. If you cannot, however, please follow through with tagging. It is better to enter it into the backlog than leave it unaddressed.
If the entire article is a problem and any text that doesn't look like a copy / paste could not survive alone as an article:
((db-copyvio|url=link to the source text))
((subst:cclean|url=link to the source text))
at the article's talk page to explain your action.((subst:uw-copyvio|article))
or ((subst:uw-copyvio-new|article))
at his or her talk page.((subst:Copyvio-revdel|start =The number of the first (oldest) revision to be deleted|end = The number of the last (newest) revision to be deleted (optional)))
on the article to alert an administrator to delete the copyvio from history.((subst:copyvio|url=link to the source text))
and then look at the bottom right of the big boilerplate template that now replaces the article: it will contain two pre-set lines to copy / paste, one on today's listing on the Copyright Problems board, the other one on the article's creator or the person who most likely added the copyrighted content.((subst:cclean|url=link to the source text))
at the article's talk page to explain your action.((subst:uw-copyvio|article))
at his or her talk page.((subst:Copyvio-revdel|start =The number of the first (oldest) revision to be deleted|end = The number of the last (newest) revision to be deleted (optional)))
on the article to alert an administrator to delete the copyvio from history.((subst:cclean|url=link to the source text))
to the article's talk page so people don't accidentally restore the older edit, bringing the copyright problem back into the article.((subst:Copyvio-revdel|start =The number of the first (oldest) revision to be deleted|end = The number of the last (newest) revision to be deleted (optional)))
on the article to alert an administrator to delete the copyvio from history, especially if the copyvio is extensive.((subst:uw-copyvio|article))
or ((subst:uw-copyvio-new|article))
at his or her talk page. It's helpful to see if the contributor has added other content to the article which may also be problematic.((subst:copyvio|url=link to the source text))
and then look at the bottom right of the big boilerplate template that now replaces the article: it will contain two pre-set lines to copy / paste, one on today's listing on the Copyright Problems board, the other one on the article's creator or the person who most likely added the copyrighted content (if you can tell who it was).((subst:copyvio|url=link to the source text))
and then look at the bottom right of the big boilerplate template that now replaces the article: it will contain two pre-set lines to copy / paste, one on today's listing on the Copyright Problems board, the other one on the article's creator or the person who most likely added the copyrighted content (if you can tell who it was). In this case, it is often a very good idea to replace the code intended for copying and pasting at the user talk page with a personal note explaining your concern and letting them know that an uninvolved administrator will evaluate the matter after a week. They can be invited to put comments about the issue on the article's talk page.If you encounter non-text media that is indisputably non-free, and it can comply with our non-free content policy, be bold and retag it as a non-free image with an appropriate tag. Otherwise, you may consult the lists below for the appropriate tag for the problem you've encountered. Be sure to check the template that will appear on the media after tagging to see if additional steps, such as notifying the contributor, are necessary.
If the media:
For fair use media: